Nam Dinh: Phu Tien Huong with sacred stories

Even though the main festival days have passed, Phu Day is still crowded. At the main Tien Huong Palace, every day thousands of people still come to worship the Holy Mother at other relics in the Phu Day complex.

Mysterious stories

These days, the story of a real estate businessman has been rumored during the Phu Day festival. Those who believe in Mau reverently recount it: Mr. D. is an investor in building high-rise apartment buildings. Two years ago, also on the occasion of Mau's festival (the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month), he returned to the Tien Huong Palace to pay his respects. While his business was flourishing, he was preparing to start a big project. That night, Mr. D. received a dream from Mau telling him to immediately give up all his business and return to his hometown to farm for a year, otherwise the consequences would be dire. Too scared, upon returning to Hanoi, he handed over the project to several partners and returned to his hometown to look after several farms. That's why when the real estate market collapsed, his assets were preserved and he did not go bankrupt.

To verify, I met Mr. D. who lives in Hao Nam (Dong Da District, Hanoi). He shook his head: The story is not exactly like that. I went to the ceremony, I had a dream like that, but in my opinion it was just a coincidence. That year, when I reviewed the project, I saw that the amount of money I had to borrow from the bank was too large, and the interest rate was high, so even though the bank was willing to lend me money, I did not dare to do it. It was fortunate that I did not dare to do it. The partner who accepted my project is now bankrupt, and I was afraid that I would get into trouble with the law. I thought it was lucky, so I just held a thank you ceremony...

Phu Day (Kim Thai commune, Vu Ban district, Nam Dinh province) is the general name of a complex of 21 relics worshiping Lady Lieu Hanh. This is a complex of relics built in a geographical area with many traces of prehistoric people, with cultural relics from the Stone Age. Phu Day is a purely Vietnamese folk belief phenomenon that has appeared and existed for nearly 4 centuries. The stories of divinity, prayers, and miracles from hundreds of years ago have attracted millions of people to worship Lady Lieu Hanh every year.

According to legend, Lieu Hanh was originally Princess Quynh Hoa, daughter of the Jade Emperor, who was sent down to earth because she broke a jade cup. It is especially said that later, when she took refuge in Buddha, she secretly assisted the court, quelled the bandits, and helped the people eliminate epidemics... Princess Lieu Hanh traveled to many places, and wherever she went, she did good deeds, so the people honored her as the Holy Mother, Mother Lieu, and built a temple to worship her, placing her among the Four Immortals in the Vietnamese pantheon, alongside Saint Tan Vien, Saint Giong, and Tien Chu Dong Tu. But the main place is still Phu Day, where Mother was born. Phu Day relic has a very high value in terms of architectural art from the late 19th to early 20th century. Here, there is a set of three architectural works closely related to Mother Lieu Hanh: Tien Huong Palace (main palace), Van Cat Palace, and Lord Lieu's tomb. In addition, there is a unique intangible cultural heritage that is always present here, which is Hau Bong and Chau Van singing.

Tien Huong main palace and Van Cat outer palace

According to verified historical documents, the legend of Mother Lieu Hanh has been spread since the 16th century and was recounted by female writer Doan Thi Diem in the book Van Cat Than Nu. The story goes that Mother Lieu Hanh was a princess, the daughter of the Jade Emperor, who came down to earth and was reincarnated into a Le family in An Thai village, Van Cat commune, Vu Ban district (Nam Dinh), now Tien Huong village, Kim Thai commune, and married a Tran family in the same village. Currently, Tien Huong village still has an ancestral temple (also called Phu Noi) that was built 200 years ago, worshiping the ancestors of the Tran and Le families. In Phu Noi, there is also a genealogy clearly stating that Mother Lieu Hanh was born in this village, her father was Le Thai Cong, her mother was Tran Thi Phuc. In Tien Huong village, there is also the Mau Mau relic, considered the burial place of the Mother's mortal body and the ancestors of the Tran and Le families. Thus, the legend as well as the remaining relics confirm that Mother Lieu Hanh was born in Tien Huong village.

The temple worshiping the "Three Holy Mothers" in An Thai, Thien Ban district is still simple, built during the reign of Le Canh Tri (1663 - 1671). That is the Tien Huong Palace today. Later, when separated, Van Cat village also built a temple to worship the Mother, that is the current Van Cat Palace. According to the royal decrees, documents and inscriptions, the Tien Huong Palace was allowed by the royal court to build a temple in the 8th year of Duong Hoa (1642). The Tien Huong Palace was built during the reign of Le Canh Tri (1663 - 1671) until 1841 when it was converted into a brick and tile structure and in the 9th year of Duy Tan (1915), Governor Doan Trien ordered it to be built as large as it is today. Presently, the Tien Huong Palace still preserves 15 royal decrees of canonization for the Holy Mother Lieu Hanh, the earliest dated December 10, Vinh Khanh 2nd year (1730) canonizing the Holy Mother as Ma Vang Princess of the highest rank, the latest dated July 25, 1924, the ninth year of Khai Dinh, canonizing the Third Holy Mother - Ngoc Nu Quang Cung Que Anh. In the Tien Huong Palace, there are still many antiques clearly stating that this is the main palace worshiping the Mother at the place where she was reincarnated. That is an ancient bronze seal cast hundreds of years ago, on the seal there are two Chinese characters on the back: Phu Chinh, many ancient porcelain antiques are engraved with words emphasizing that this is the sacrificial object of the main palace...

Van Cat Palace was built later. The process of building and renovating Van Cat Palace was recorded in the stele "Thanh Mau co trach linh tu bi ky" composed in Thanh Thai Tan Suu year (1901) as follows: "... the land was chosen to build the foundation during the reign of Le Canh Thinh (1663 - 1671) to make it simple and beautiful. During the reign of Canh Thinh (1794 - 1800), the councilor Tran Gia Du, the deputy left supervisor Tran Cong Ban, expanded it. In the year Ky Mao (1879) of Tu Duc's reign, the district official Le Ky repaired the roof. In the 10th year of Thanh Thai (1898), the temple was severely damaged by wind and rain, so the district officials... and the dignitaries stood up to repair it. In the 12th year of Thanh Thai (1900), it was completed. The palace is located between the village temple and Long Van pagoda, sharing a large yard, forming an architectural complex worshiping Mother - God - Buddha. Currently, there is no royal decree preserved in Van Cat Palace. Through some of the above documents, we confirm that the Tien Huong Palace is the palace in An Thai village, built in the middle of the 17th century and is the main place to worship Mother Lieu Hanh, recognized by feudal dynasties and many dynasties have deified the main deity of the palace as Mother Lieu Hanh. Van Cat Palace is the palace built later and also worships Mother Lieu Hanh.

Phu Day Festival was restored in 1994, Tien Huong government plays a major role in preserving and promoting national cultural heritage, attracting millions of visitors from all over the country to pay homage to Mother Lieu Hanh.

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